A Bipolar Theory of Living Processes

Throughout life the relation between the concentration of hydrogen ions and of hydroxyl ions is maintained within certain narrow limits of variation. It would appear, therefore, that these ever-present ions and the relation between them are essential to the operation of the bipolar mechanism. Water is an electrolyte and dissociates into H- and OH- ions, the H-ions being positive, the OH-ions negative. Hydrogen and hydroxyl ions have the highest ionie conductance. Therefore, “the addition of water to a solution of а weak acid greatly increases the conductance of that acid."

If, as Kraus states," in aqueous solutions the hydrogen atoms combine with oxygen, the resultant ОН; ion would be still more strongly positive. By means of oxidation on the lipoid films electric energy would be released, as a result of which the swiftly moving H-ions would pass through the semipermeable lipoid membrane, but would be held there by the negative 1ons accumulated on the inner surface. Thus, on one side of the dielectric membrane would be aecumulated the positive charges of the Н — ОН, ions, and on the inner surface the negative charges of the hydroxyl ions, thus establishing at the membrane a difference of potential. This would be true of all cells in the body. But since the speed of production of H-ions is in direct relation to the rate of oxidation, the accumulation of H-ions in the cells of any tissue and hence the eleetrie potential of that tissue would depend upon its oxidative power. Certain portions of Loeb’s “Theory of Colloidal Be- havior” are of especial significance in this connection. (See

We have already suggested the interrelation of oil and water in a bipolar mechanism and have discussed in part the function of the lipoid films of the cells in the accumulation of electric charges. It is important, however, to include a brief further statement regarding the characteristics of oils and of lipoid films which make them essential to the electro-chemical operation of the organism. Many oils absorb oxygen; thus the oils used in paint, for example, do not dry by evaporation but by oxidation. The oxidation of fats produces more energy than the oxidation of the sugars from which they are derived. “Тһе system oxygenfatty acid contains, therefore, far more potential energy than the system oxygen-carbohydrate. One gram of fat burned produces nine calories of heat as compared with four for a gram of carbohydrate.” (Mathews.)*®

There is a reversible relationship between fats and carbohydrates. Thus by the action of an enzyme, possibly lipase, the reaction by which a carbohydrate is converted into a fat may be reversed. This reversible action in plants has been extensively studied by Ivanow. (See Appendix A.) The reversible phases of sugar and fat metabolism may give а clue to the sequence of the oxidation processes in the cell. As already stated, the fact that neutral oils and fats are insoluble in water is of prime importance to the conception that the cells are bipolar units, since upon this relationship of water and oil depends the establishment of the lipoid membranes of the cells. It should be added that among the substances in which oils and fats are soluble are ether and chloroform, a fact which has an important physiological and clinical significance.

The finding by Dr. Fricke in our laboratory that the lipoid cell membranes are of the order of four-ten millionths of a centimeter in thickness, added to the fact that oils have a high dielectric constant, is of the highest electro-chemical significance, since the thinner the film the higher its electric capacity. The importance of the semi-permeable lipoid membranes of the cells for the establishment of an electric potential has been indicated by the Donnan theory of membrane equilibria, and by the researches of Beutner,? Loeb 1° and others on the phenomena of colloidal behavior. Loeb's discussion of the

“origin of the electrical charges of living cells and tissues” is of especial importance in this connection. (See Appendix A.) Among the characteristics of potassium which appear to be of prime significance in their relation to the essential rôle of potassium in the bipolar mechanism, the о аге езре- cially significant. Potassium is omnipresent in living organisms except in the nuclei of the cells. It is the only radio-active element in the body. It has the power of orientating and maintaining the orientation of other ions. It is “ап absolutely necessary constituent of the fluid used for the perfusion of an organ. If a potassium-free Ringer’s fluid is passed through a frog’s heart the heart will come to a standstill in about half an hour.” “Мо non-radio-active element has been found which is capable of acting as a substitute for potassium.” ‘On account of its unit negative charge, it has a disturbing effect on all systems in electrical equilibrium through which it passes." (Burns.) 11

Mathews suggests that potassium is concerned in the respiration of cells. “Another substance which is in some way concerned in the respiration of cells is the element potassium. It has been found that in the presence of potassium hydrate, phloroglucin and similar substances undergo oxidation better than with an equivalent amount of sodium hydrate. This indicates that the potassium salt is more easily oxidised than the sodium. There must be some reason for the preference cells have for potassium over sodium. The general richness of potassium in cells of widely different character indicates that this element must be concerned with some fundamental process or condition in the cell, and it is possible that that process is respiration. But just why it is favorable or what its real function is it is impossible to state." !?

Among the normal constituents of living matter, one other, carbon, deserves especial consideration because of certain properties which render it of essential value to the bipolar function of the cells. Nernst 13 states that “it is doubtless carbon itself which stamps its character on the ‘chemistry of the carbon compounds,’ " and offers the following arguments brought forward by van’t Hoff in partial explanation of the preéminent position of this element in organic compounds:

“1. The quadrivalence of carbon necessitates an enormous number of derivatives of a carbon compound. “2. The capacity of carbon atoms of uniting with each other in very many ways, allows the possibility of the greatest variety of combination. “3. The position of carbon, standing as it does between positive and negative elements, invests it with a peculiar capacity for uniting with the most different elements, as hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, chlorin, etc. To this is due the property of adapting itself alternately to the processes of oxidation and reduction, which have such significance in animal and plant life.”

It has been estimated that “about two hundred thousand distinct compounds of the element carbon are now known, most of which are with only three other elements: hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.” (Comstock and Troland.) !* Moreover, the isomeric property of carbon compounds vastly extends the occurrence of this element in organic matter. “Тһе organic chemist is acquainted with twenty-six different compounds which contain four atoms of carbon, six of hydrogen and three of oxygen, and with one hundred and fifty-seven which are composed of ten atoms of carbon and sixteen of hydrogen.” (Comstock and Troland. )

Mathews suggests that since every battery must contain a eonductor of the first class that essential is provided by the chains of carbon molecules:— “А stick of highly compressed graphite is a good conductor, and the chains of carbon atoms are nothing less than very minute and highly compressed rods of graphite. We may then conclude that certainly molecules made of carbon atoms must be good conductors. . . . “The fact that protoplasm is composed so largely of molecules consisting of chains of carbon atoms which are hence con-

ductors of the first class is a matter of great importance in understanding the electrical phenomena, catalysis, and synthesis of cells.” 15 The importance in a bipolar mechanism of an element with these characteristics is evident, especially when we take into consideration the fact that carbon shows the highest tendency to unite with oxygen. This high oxidizability together with the manifold combinations of carbon makes possible the continuance and variety of degrees of oxidation in the various types of tissues in the body, whereby in each the difference of potential specific for that tissue is maintained. “Thus Barrell observes that a chemist would immediately put his finger on the element carbon as that which is needed to endow an organic substance with complexity of form and function, and its selection in the origin of plant life was by no means fortuitous.”

ds КО. The Properties of Electrically Conducting Systems, New York, 1922, p. 205. 10. Говв. Proteins and the Theory of Colloidal Behavior, New York, 1922. Тнк purpose of this thesis has been to present certain evidence and discussions based upon that evidence in support of the theory that man and animals are bipolar mechanisms and that the organism not only is driven by electricity but that it was originally created and constructed by electrical forces.

Our thesis is based upon the fundamental conception that life is a dynamic not a static phenomenon, and that, therefore, to attempt to define living processes in terms of their histological structure is as inadequate as to attempt to interpret the phenomena of the solar system in terms of the elements of which the sun and the planets are composed. The phenomena of the solar system are dynamic phenomena. The physicist has discovered that the phenomena of the molecule, of the atom and of the electron are dynamic phenomena, so, also, must the phenomena of living beings be interpreted. They are dynamic phenomena and can be interpreted, therefore, only in terms of that type of energy whereby they are produced. Any consideration of the structure of living organisms therefore must be related to the manner in which that structure is utilized in the dynamics of the organism as a whole.

Certain characteristics, therefore, which pertain to all living organisms should be summarized here since upon them the development of the bipolar theory primarily depends. 1. The organs, the cells, the functioning parts within the cells are interrelated by means of nerve fibers and protoplasmic bridges forming a syncytium (Sedgwick). The energy units of the protoplasm itself are interrelated by means of a meshwork of protoplasmic threads. Living matter, therefore, is structurally equipped for a universal circulation of energy.

9. As universally present in living matter as the intercommunicating fibers. or lines of force, are the lipoid films. These films separate the cells from each other; they separate the electrolytic solution within the cells from the electrolytic solution in which the cells are suspended; they separate the nucleus from the cytoplasm and from the nucleolus. Lipoid films also bound the spherules and granules within the cell. They are universally present in protoplasm.

3. In living organisms an acid-alkali balance on opposite sides of the dielectric films is maintained by a difference in the concentration of H- and OH-ions. 5. Living tissues contain certain electrolytes among which potassium is of primary significance since it is radio-active and has the power even in combination of orientating other molecules at a distance. 7. The living transformer of energy obeys the same laws of the conservation of energy as do non-living energy transformers.

8. Irritability, assimilation, reproduction, the universal characteristics of living matter as distinguished from the nonliving, are electric phenomena. 9. The structure of the molecules and atoms of living systems is that of a crystal. In the non-living crystal the lines of force are static and the crystal grows by accretion. In the living crystal the lines of force are dynamic and the crystal grows by reproduction. On the foundation of these universal characteristics of living matter has been constructed the bipolar theory, the argument in favor of which may be briefly summarized as follows:

The living and the non-living are chemically identical, the living differing from the non-living not in substance but in the utilization of non-living material for the construction of mechanical devices that have the power of transforming energy and of reproducing themselves. In accordance with the bipolar theory, these processes which distinguish the living from the non-living are due to electrical forces within the protoplasm, which endow the protoplasm with the essential qualities of irritation, assimilation and reproduction. It is due to these electrical processes that groups of the

protoplasmic energy units become associated in cells. Within the cells identical electrical forces produce the mitotic processes by means of which are formed the paired identical parts, each of which forms a new cell. And even before the protoplasm is formed, electric forces arrange the atoms and molecules аз building stones, each in its own place, to form the essential structures of the protoplasm. Moreover, not only do electric forces construct the component structures of the cell but they arrange the atoms and molecules of the structures outside the cell which play their part also in rendering effective the electric charges created within the cell itself. `

In accordance with the bipolar theory, we believe that the potential within the cells is created by variations in oxidation on the two sides of the condenser plates—films—which separate the nucleus of the cell from the cytoplasm and the cytoplasm from the surrounding medium. Thus, in each of the trillions of cells of the body there is created an electric strain, the vibratory discharges of which serve as the catalyst which produces oxidation, oxidation in turn renewing the electric charges on these countless interfaces within the cells.

With the diminution of the difference in potential, with the lessening of the frequency and force of the vibratory discharges, there develops successively diminished vitality, fatigue, exhaustion, unconsciousness, until equilibrium—death—ends the sequence. Or the frequency and intensity of the vibratory discharges may be temporarily suspended by inhalation anesthesia or by sleep, the difference between these processes, however, being that in the former the difference of potential upon which the degree of electric strain—the force of vibratory discharge—depends is being progressively diminished, while during the latter—sleep—the potential which has been lessened during periods of consciousness is being built up—restored.

Thus the specific characteristic which differentiates the living animal organism from the non-living materials of which it is composed would appear to be the frequency and force of these electric discharges rather than its static structure. An animal, therefore, is an energy phenomenon rather than a form phenomenon, On the basis of this assumption, it is necessary to identify the original source of the forces which transmitted this characteristic to the atoms and molecules of the colloids within which the first living organism arose. This we may assume to have been the vibrant energy of light which obviously is the ultimate source of life. We thus assume that life may be defined as the expression of the specific energies emitted by atoms and molecules, which energies in turn were given them by light. In accordance with this conception the composition of the living organism must be constantly changing. Electric energy governs the composition of the structure of the organism and the composition and arrangement of the structure in turn makes possible the transformation of energy. That is, the energy and structure of the organism is constantly changing and yet apparently the structure and the energy remain constantly unchanged.

An analogy to this cycle of static and kinetic changes within the organism is offered by the rainbow which appears to be static and stationary although rays of light are swiftly passing through the swiftly falling drops of water. The rainbow seems to be static because the effect of each wave of light on each drop of water is the same as that of its predecessor. In other words, the rainbow is the result of an infinite series of equal variations in electric strain among an infinite number of atoms and molecules, the arrangement of which is stationary and characteristic Шш the atoms and molecules which constitute А arrangement are constantly changing,

We may imagine that by the electric forces of light a positive charge was transmitted to infinitely small particles of matter of ultramicroscopic size, thus producing a difference of potential between these particles and the negative electrolytic solutions in the sea or in the mud which surrounded them. When this difference of potential reached a certain point we may conceive that a discharge took place with an immediate rebuilding of the differences of potential; this process continuing until these small partieles of matter built up a permanent mechanism for the maintenance and interchange of electric forces—thus creating the first mass of protoplasm. This small mass of protoplasm by its greater power of oxidation would

have been positive as compared with the negative electrolytic solutions by which it was surrounded, and therefore by a like process of discharge and immediate rebuilding of potential would have finally permanently acquired an electronegative portion which became the cytoplasm of the first cell. By the continuance of these alternating processes created by an alternation of electric strains and discharges, we may suppose the primary cell or cells grew and became increasingly complex until by some fortuitous circumstance some cell divided but the daughter cells did not separate. Groups of cells then specialized, each along essential lines for the most efficient acquisition of each of the factors essential for its specific energy —sunlight and oxygen. Thus through constant changes, as the result of fortuitous circumstances, form after form was evolved, each becoming more complex as the range of responses widened. For the unified responses of the more complex mechanisms the bipolar arrangement continues to exist, positive electric forces becoming centralized in certain tissues and negative forces in other tissues until in the final form, in accordance with this conception, we conceive that the tissue of highest positivity is the brain and central nervous system while the tissue of highest negativity is the liver.

Just as in the single cell the differences upon which its life depends are due to the strain—difference in potential—between the positive pole—the nucleus on one side of the condenser plate, and the negative pole—the cytoplasm on the other side of the condenser plate, so in the multicellular organism the electric forces which maintain its varying activities are due to the difference of potential maintained between the central nervous system and the other organs and tissues.

That the brain and the liver are the organs in which are the centers of positivity and of negativity in the organism would appear to be attested by the facts that the removal of either causes an immediate physical and functional breakdown of the organism; that when either of these has failed there is no known substitute for its function; that clinical experience and experimental research alike show an essential inter-relationship between them which is manifested between no other organs or

Moreover, and this is of prime significance, the brain, of higher animals at least, seems to be so constructed that it can hold in a static position molecules which are so arranged that they may be orientated by specific electric energy in such a way as to facilitate in one direction and retard in other directions the forces between the cells. Only by such an arrangement in the positive pole of an electric organism could the purposeful interchange of activations between the constituent parts be effected.

Moreover, by means of these patterns whereby action currents are facilitated, we may conceive nerve fibers were constructed whereby the electric energy between the brain and the muscles or glands is made effective. By means of similarly facilitated patterns also we may conceive that more complex relations between different sets of brain cells were established. The electrostatic arrangement in these highly specialized conducting paths would thus hold innumerable chains of molecules which would be so balanced electrostatically that each impulse that passed over them would change their orientation.